By noon yesterday we were in the full throes of a winter storm that brought us unrelenting freezing rain. The area was trapped in a full-blown rainstorm, heavy enough at times that all surface areas were swiftly steeped in glassy ice. Treacherous enough that even before the Friday rush hour began, there were forty reported collisions, a number of vehicle roll-overs, and people trapped in their vehicles. There were serious hospital admissions and a shaken public.

This, in an area of the world where people are accustomed to dangerous winter driving conditions and generally drive accordingly. The sheer ice and the difficulties manoeuvring a vehicle safely from point A to point B was an exercise in both judgement born of experience and fear of accidents, and pure luck to get through what in other circumstances is a routine drive.

In our backyard, our little dogs slithered about on the newly-formed ice. And it wasn't for the first time this winter, by any means. We would much more appreciate snow than ice, since it's manageable, whereas ice is not. Our driveway, like all others in the region was a sheer, slick coat of ice. And even with cleats strapped securely over our winter boots, it's difficult to get stable purchase.

So it was with regret that we admitted we were in one of those rare circumstances when it would be wiser to remain at home rather than venture as is usual out into the forest to stalk the trails on a circuit through the woods. All the hills that need negotiating would present a challenge to remaining upright. And, as has happened before, Jackie and Jillie would be risking sliding downhill over ice-sheeted thick layers of accumulated snow, where they could end up in the swiftly flowing and very icy creek at the bottom of the ravine.

Reluctantly, we turned our attention inward and off my husband went to his workshop to continue the demanding work of his newly designed stained glass window, a notional replication of a small part of our front garden. Most of the windows of this house of ours are now covered with stained glass. It is only the two bedrooms at the front of the second floor that haven't yet been landscaped in this manner. My husband built shutters to open into the rooms, fitted on the window frames and it is within these shutters that the landscapes will be installed.

As for me, I had plenty to do as well, and set about baking. To prepare a berry pie at this time of year the convenience of frozen packs of berries is invaluable. A frozen envelope-pack containing three cups of blueberries, for example, makes for an excellent blueberry pie, so that's just what I did. Berry pies are so colourful they cry out for lattice tops and that too is what I did.

Thank heavens for a full freezer out of which I selected chicken breasts to be baked with garlic cloves and fresh ginger grated over them, and over that, sliced tomatoes, soya sauce, and olive oil; the main course of Friday dinner. I like to set a chicken soup on to simmer early in the day, filling the house with the aroma characteristic of that iconic Friday night dinner starter. Into the soup goes a thigh and a leg, an onion, garlic clove, celery, parsnip, carrot, and bay leaf. Several grated potatoes, an onion, salt, pepper, an egg and a scant quarter-cup whole-wheat flour make for a potato pudding to accompany the chicken, and cauliflower florets sprinkled with olive oil and roasted completed yesterday's dinner.

Giving me ample time to putter about after cleaning up the kitchen, the powder room, setting our bedroom to rights, and a cursory vacuuming there and in the family room, to do whatever else I fancied; giving myself a manicure, reading, writing. Bliss.